Not only do the Iranians control the Strait, they've turned it into a racket.
Vessels have been tracked passing between Qeshm and Larak, presumably for visual inspection, instead of through the main track of the Strait of Hormuz.
... More than 20 vessels of over 10,000 dwt have thus far made the detour, which goes between Iran’s Qeshm and Larak Islands. ...
More.
All because of one, supremely disordered soul.
‘We will remember’: Trump warns countries to help secure Strait of Hormuz as shipping stalls (Mar 16)
U.S. trade deficit totaled $901 billion in 2025, barely budging despite Trump’s tariffs
The U.S. trade deficit swelled in December, closing out a year in which the imbalance was essentially unchanged despite efforts by the Trump administration to close the wide gap.
Closing out a tumultuous year in the global marketplace, the goods and services shortfall in December totaled $70.3 billion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That marked an increase of $17.3 billion from November and was well above the Dow Jones consensus estimate of $55.5 billion.
For the full year, the U.S. ran a $901.5 billion deficit, down slightly from 2024 but only by 0.2%, or $2.1 billion. The total was also a bit less than the record $923.7 billion shortfall in 2022.
The report follows a year in which President Donald Trump implemented a series of aggressive tariffs aimed at leveling the global playing field. In April, Trump announced an across-the-board duty of 10% on all imports as well as so-called reciprocal tariffs aimed at specific countries that had run up surpluses against the U.S.
However, during the course of the year Trump softened many of those positions, and negotiations with major trading partners are ongoing.
In an effort to get ahead of the tariffs, companies front-loaded imports during the first three months of the year. The trend abated following the early effort, with October registering the lowest monthly deficit since 2009.
The U.S. had its largest goods deficit with the European Union, at $218.8 billion, followed by China, at $202.1 billion, and Mexico, at $196.9 billion.
Exports for 2025 totaled $3.43 trillion for all of 2025, up $199.8 billion from 2024. Imports also rose, totaling $4.33 trillion, an increase of $197.8 billion.
The increase in the deficit counters Trump’s efforts to use tariffs to reduce imbalances around the globe. When announcing so-called reciprocal tariffs in April 2025, the White House used the level of trade deficits with varying countries as a baseline for determining the duties. ...
And you don't put protective tariffs on trade when you have nothing to protect.
“We’re in charge,” he told reporters. “We need total access. We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country.”
More.
It's a picture of dismal failure.
The U.S. Navy has not made the Red Sea safe for free trade.
The Houthis remain a potent threat to shipping.
3Q2025 statistics compared with 3Q2023 show the number of ships transiting the Suez Canal down 49.8%.
Net tons passing through is down 65.8%.
If Reagan were alive today, he'd reject Donald Trump and his trade war against the whole world, including and especially against our friends and allies in Canada.
Reagan's full remarks from April 1987, excerpted by Doug Ford in the ad, are shown below.
The seasonally-adjusted annual rate of Trump's tariffs leaped from $96 billion in 1Q to $266 billion in 2Q.
The federal government farts through $20 billion every day, so this annualized tariff revenue goes Poof in less than two weeks, matching just 3.6% of federal outlays.
The numbskulls in the US Senate like Josh Hawley want to redistribute these tax revenues in the form of rebate checks to the taxpayers.
Wouldn't it have been easier and more efficient and more fair not to have taxed us in the first place?
Note that Donald Trump's Bureau of Economic Analysis, run by Howard Lutnick, still must call this what it is, taxes on imports lol, despite what his Treasury Secretary was still saying in June:
Bessent claims tariffs aren’t taxes.
The goods trade deficit in May was $96 billion, in June $85 billion.
The only thing that's changed is consumers are now being taxed on those trade deficits. The numbskulls of the GOP U. S. Senate are proposing rebates of these taxes to the people paying them.
It's all completely ludicrous.
It would have been easier simply not to have imposed the taxes in the first place.
If there's a way to lower the standard of living of American consumers, Mad King Ludwig is sure to find it.
Canada is today's poster child for America's bad old system of states' rights.
Canada does not have free trade with itself, let alone with the United States. Imagine not being able to drive an 18-wheeler cross country.
... When Carney made his campaign promise, he was talking about cutting red tape put up by the federal government — not the rules set by the provinces, which have the most authority in this area. ...
There is no comprehensive list of existing internal trade barriers. Even some lobby groups have told parliamentarians they don't know how many barriers their own industries face.
There isn't even consensus on what all counts as a trade barrier. ...
Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has repeatedly stated that most of the barriers are at the provincial level, testified to the Senate that she will meet with her provincial counterparts on July 8 to discuss next steps.
One major obstacle is in Freeland's crosshairs: Canada's patchwork of interprovincial trucking regulations.
"One of three areas that I will be putting on the agenda at that meeting is trucking," she said on June 16. "It should be a lot easier than it is to drive a truck from Halifax to Vancouver. We need to get rid of conflicting requirements."
Update Jul 29, 2025:
OK, so it appears it's not a new chart series. It's an advance report of the most recent month without showing the previous months. May goods trade balance was $96 billion in the hole (above), now June is $85 billion in the hole (below).
Trump wants goods trade surpluses but isn't getting them. And good luck to him. America stopped being a net exporter of goods in 1969, at which time the chart for that stopped being updated (also below).
Canadian officials said this month that they would not pause the digital services tax, despite ferocious opposition from the United States.
“Obviously, we think it’s patently unfair to do it retroactively,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said later Friday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”
Bessent said the Trump administration was hoping that Carney’s government would “put a brake on” the tax “as a sign of goodwill.” ...
Trump's idea of good will is 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, 25% tariffs on autos, an overall 10% tariff on most everything else, and a 25% "fentanyl" tariff.
Does anybody ever talk about exports anymore? You know, from domestic production?
... In recent years, a cautious optimism had returned, as supply chain shocks from the pandemic pushed some companies to bring production back to the US.
But frequent changes and uncertainty around where Trump's tariff policy is headed has 'got people spooked,' Andrew Anagnost, CEO of Autodesk, told the outlet.
The company sells software used by manufacturers to design factories and improve processes.
'The current operating mode is just the death to long-term investment,' he said.
While construction projects that were already underway are still going ahead, he added, confusion about the future is stalling new work. ...
More.
Exports are a " + " when calculating GDP. Imports are a " - " when calculating it.
Exports' contribution to GDP in 1Q2025 is THE WORST ON RECORD.
No wonder GDP was negative. Outside the pandemic soaring imports had their worst negative impact on GDP on record in 1Q2025.
It's a terrible time to be introducing new huge taxes on imports needed by domestic manufacturers, but that's what Trump is doing.
Stephen Miller most hurt.
On Wednesday morning, President Trump took a call from Brooke Rollins, his secretary of agriculture, who relayed a growing sense of alarm from the heartland.
But the decision had been made. Later on Thursday, a senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tatum King, sent an email to regional leaders at the agency informing them of new guidance. Agents were to “hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels.” ...
More.
Observe again how quickly Trump is to turn on a dime. The policy changed in less than 48 hours. The last person he talked to can be the most influential, which is not what you want from the leader of the free world. Sometimes he stumbles into the right decision, to be sure, but he can always stumble the wrong way. The tyrant's soul resembles the state which he rules, full of chaos and conflicting desires which he is utterly unable to satisfy.
